Sharper Image Portal Window Fan w/ Reversible Exhaust (Fits up 38" Wide Windows)

In the US, the vast majority of residential windows open horizontally. Maybe that isn't true everywhere?

Many of the vertically opening windows that do exist are crank-operated, and rotate rather than slide, so a fan like this won't seal the opening (without substantial extra 'stuff'.)

In general, when it rains a fan like this won't let much water through because of the angle the rain would have to travel. With a vertical mount lots of water would get through even without wind to push it sideways.

Making this suitable for a vertical mount would mean providing extra panels to seal at least 48" of window. Sure, some are shorter, but if you're going to sell a product it has to cover most scenarios. They could redesign the fan to be slimmer and longer, but then you have shelf space issues in the store... and a unit that wouldn't be suitable for horizontal mount.

Beyond all that... it looks like the small sides of this are pretty flat. It's likely that you could mount it vertically. The motors and electronics aren't going to care. It just needs to be snug enough to stay in place, or secured somehow. Of course, you'd have to fill the extra gap above, but that's not crazy difficult.

So, to sum up:
- There is little to no market (in the US at least, which is a BIG market) for a vertical mount
- The existing fans could probably be made to work with a bit of effort (except for the rain issue, which might be a non-issue in some scenarios.)

This might be the only thing the Sharper Image sells that doesn't have Bluetooth or a remote control.

Sharper image is name only now, they went under a while ago. Now when I see their name on a product I think of items that will be thrown away quite fast